Water wheel



g- 1952 L. c. WALES 2,608,379

WATER WHEEL Filed Dec. 14, 1946 2 SHEETS--SHEET 1 Les'iea 0. WW,

WATER WHEEL Filed Dec. 14, 1946 2 SHEETS.SHEET 2 Patented Aug. 26, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WATER WHEEL V Lester 0. Wales, Portland,'Maine Application December 14, 1946, Serial No. 716,349 1 Claim. (01. s at) My present invention relates to water wheels or like wheel's rotated by a fluid stream.

In accordance with my invention, I provide a water wheel consisting of a hub rotatably mounted within a casing in communication with the interior of which are inlet and outlet conduits so disposed that water tends to flow through the casing as a stream around the hub in a predetermined direction. The blades of my wheel are pivotally connected to the hub so that they may be swung by the stream into an operative position intersecting it while being swung out of that position by any water seeking to flow about the hub in the opposite direction.

By this construction, I am able to establish a water or like wheel in which surplus water may flow through the wheel in a direction opposite to and without interfering with its rotation ensuring smoother and more efiicient operation.

In the acompanying drawings, I have shown an illustrative embodiment of a water wheel in accordance with my invention from which these and other of its novel features and advantages will be readily apparent.

In the drawings: 7

Fig. 1 is a partly sectioned view through a water wheel in accordance with my invention, and

Fig. 2 is a section along the lines 22 of Fig. 1.

At 5, I have generally indicated a casing having side and end walls 6 and I in which is rotatably mounted on the shaft 3 a hub, generally indicated at 9. To simplify the drawings, I have not detailed the construction of the casing 5 and have omitted shaft seals, bearings and other structural details unnecessary to an understanding of my invention. I have shownthe hub 9 as comprising a pair of circular end walls I!) fast on the shaft 8 and of a diameter slightly less than that of the casing 5. A cylindrical shell H, the diameter of which is substantially less than that of the end walls establish therewith and with the shaft 8, a drum-like compartment l2 which may be filled with ballast water to function as a fly wheel. To ensure this result, I provide the shell I I with radial blades I s subdividing the compartment [2.

An inlet conduit l4 and an outlet conduit I are in communication with the interior of the casing 5 and are so disposed relative thereto and to each other that the water stream delivered through the conduit I' l tends to flow around the hub 9 in a predetermined direction, counterclockwise as viewed in Fig. 2. I have shown both conduits as tapered with their zones of minimum cross sectional area adjacent the casing 5,

' Adjacent the periphery of the end walls "land in spaced relation to each other, I pivotally mount a plurality of blades [6 as at I! so that they may be swung in one direction by water circulating in the predetermined direction and in the reverse direction by any water tending to circulate opppositely around the hub 9. Stops I8 limit the position of the blades [6 when swung inwardly by the water circulating in saidpredetermined direction and these may conveniently be mounted on the shell ll so that in the operative position of the blades, in which they obstruct the flow of water through the casing 5, they will be radially disposed with reference to the axis of the shaft 8. As shown in Fig. 1, the blades l6 are dimensioned so that they are of the cross sectional area of the space between the shell I I, the interior surface ofthe casing side wall 6 and the end walls it, which is preferably less than the minimum cross sectional area of the inlet or outlet conduits.

By this construction, water flowing in the predetermined direction swings the blades 16 successively into their operative position while any water tending to circulate oppositely is free to flow into the outlet conduit 15 without impeding the rotation of the shaft 8.

I have shown a flow regulator l9 hinged as at 20 in the inlet conduit [4. While the regulator I 9 may be positioned by any desired means, I have shown it as controlled by a set screw 2| to increase or decrease the flow thereby to regulate the rate of rotation of the shaft 8 as desired.

From the drawings, it will be apparent that a blade l6 incperatively positioned against stops 22 adjacent the periphery of each of the ends Ill by centrifugal force or by water circulating in a direction opposite to that of the shaft 8 is initially From the foregoing, it will be apparent that water wheels in accordance with my invention are of simple construction and combine reliability with smoothness in operation.

What I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A water wheel or the like comprising a cylindrical casing, a wheel member rotatably mounted within said casing and comprising a hub of substantial diameter, and a pair of end walls of approximately the same diameter as the casing and defining with said hub and said casing a closed annular path of uniform cross sectional area, a water inlet and a water outlet in communication with the interior of said casing and disposed relative thereto so that water passing from said inlet to said outlet tends to flow along said path and about said hub in a predetermined direction, a plurality of blades transversely pivoted to said walls and spaced uniformly apart a distance slightly less than the width of said inlet and said outlet so that each may swing into or out of a position intersecting the stream of water, and stop means on said member against which each blade seats under the influence of'water seeking to flow in said predetermined. direction, and awayfrom which said blades are swung by water seeking to flow about said hub in. the opposite direction, said blades being dimensioned so that when positioned by water flowing in said predetermined direction, adjacent pairs thereof define with said casing substantially closed compartments intermediate said inlet and outlet.

LESTER C. WALES.

4 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 73,400 Snodgrass Jan. 14, 1868 589,466 Curtis Sept. 7, 1897 787,039 Harris Apr. 11, 1905 800,684 Schneider Oct. 3, 1905 983,512 Nicholls Feb. 7, 1911 1,013,508 Morgenstern Jan. 2, 1912 1,274,678 Butler Aug. 6, 1918 2,310,816 Taylor Feb. 9, 1943 2,341,695 Critchfield Feb. 15, 1944 2,404,515 Meyer July 23, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 11,062 I France ,May 6, 1854 642,181 Germany Feb. 25, "1937 OTHER REFERENCES American Inventor, April 1906, vol. 15, #14, page 101, published at 114 Liberty St, New York, N. Y. 

